Epic counter-sues Silicon Knights

When Silicon Knights originally launched a lawsuit against Epic Games, the claim was that Epic was using fees from licensing its UE3 engine to sabotage rival games and to promote its own games over rivals and that the engine was delivered late and barely functional. It caused quite a stir at the time.

Now, in an act of retaliation, Epic is pushing a counter-suit on Silicon Knights with a long list of claims according to Kotaku. The key claims in the new lawsuit are;

Silicon Knights originally wanted Epic to endorse the "suitability" of their engine for Too Human, Epic refused

Silicon Knights has used Unreal 3 Technology in their own "Silicon Knights Engine"

Silicon Knights has used UT3 technology with a new Sega partnership without further license

Epic Games is now reportedly demanding compensation and punitive damages, as well as 'injunctive relief', which isn't nearly as rude or painful as it may sound. In fact, it basically means that Epic wants the original court case dismissed.

Epic also wants the destruction of "infringing goods", which basically refers to the Silicon Knights engine and the game, Too Human. Oh, and they want some more money too, for the lawyers.

Pfft, why couldn't they just settle it with a 1-on-1 deathmatch, eh?

Silicon Knights recently commented on the counter-suit to GameDaily and said that:

"We don't think Epic's counterclaim has any merit, we believe strongly that our claims in our complaint will prevail and the damages Silicon Knights has suffered in connection with its original complaint are vastly more, millions of dollars more than what Epic claims its damages are in its counterclaim. They've set forth $650,000 and our claims will dwarf that substantially," said Chris Holland, Silicon Knights' attorney.

Holland also insisted that the lawsuits will not have any effect on the development of Too Human

It's too early to see how the counter-suit may stand up in court, but it'll be a shame if manages to successfully force Too Human out of the market - something that would essentially be sabotaging the opposition, which is what the original lawsuit alleged. This whole thing is starting to make our heads hurt.